SAN FRANCISCO/ST. HELENA, Calif., Jan. 12, 2021: Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce the election of five lawyers to partnership effective January 1: Chandra Andrade, Winston Liaw, Kelly Matayoshi, Janice Reicher, and Brent Saldaña. This new partner class includes attorneys with diverse experience across firm industry groups including real estate, technology, financial services, consumer products and manufacturing, food and beverage, and wine.

“We are proud to congratulate our 2021 partners – all outstanding attorneys who have worked hard to earn their clients’ and colleagues’ trust and to build their industry knowledge and skills,” said Farella Managing Partner Brian Donnelly. “We’re also proud to see our long-term firm investment in diversity resulting in such a strong class of new partners.”

Focused on employment law, Chandra Andrade counsels employers in workplace disputes and defends them in single-plaintiff, class-action, and PAGA litigation. She has tackled a range of issues including wage and hour compliance, harassment and discrimination claims, performance management, and workplace policies and training. Chandra works with a variety of clients from technology firms to food and beverage companies and wineries. She is an active member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, where she served as chair of the Leadership Development Committee. Chandra received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (2010) and her B.A., cum laude, from Princeton University (2005). 

Winston Liaw represents a wide range of clients in patent litigation and other intellectual property matters. His clients include cloud services, semiconductor, multimedia, telecommunications, and web technology companies. He has represented clients in nearly all aspects of patent litigation and mediation, including claim construction, expert discovery, and infringement and validity analyses, and he has counseled clients on patent acquisition and portfolio development. As a member of the patent bar, Winston has also represented clients in a number of inter partes reviews before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Winston is past president of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California. He is a member of the 2020 class of Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinders. Winston earned his J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School (2010) and his B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley (2002).

Kelly Matayoshi represents a broad range of local and international companies with issues like complex contract disputes, products liability claims, and subrogation defense. While serving a broad range of clients, she has extensive experience with clients in the consumer products space. Kelly also has experience representing employers on a range of causes of action, including wrongful termination and class action wage and hour disputes. Kelly was the 2020 president of the Barristers Club of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is the immediate past-president of the UC Hastings Board of Governors and serves on the board of directors of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. She is the former co-chair of the ABA Section of Litigation’s Labor & Employment Committee and is a member of the San Francisco Leadership Team for the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program. Kelly received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (2012) and her B.A. from Wellesley College (2008).

Janice Reicher is co-chair of Farella’s White Collar Defense and Internal Corporate Investigations Group. She represents individuals and entities in federal and state court, in both criminal matters and parallel civil matters. She defends high-level corporate executives as they navigate the litigation or investigation process, including individuals accused of trade secret theft and antitrust and securities violations. She also represents companies in conducting internal investigations in high-stakes matters involving issues such as securities and public corruption. In her business litigation practice, her experience ranges from cases involving complex contractual disputes to matters alleging fraud, unfair competition, and breach of fiduciary duty. Janice serves in leadership roles with the ABA White Collar Crime Division and as a member of the board of directors for the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California. She clerked for The Honorable Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Janice earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (2012), and her B.A., cum laude with distinction, from Yale University (2009). 

Brent Saldaña is dedicated to achieving solutions that meet his clients’ goals in a variety of real estate transactions and projects, including acquisitions and sales, development, leasing, financing, management, and ownership transactions. He particularly enjoys complex projects where protecting his clients requires negotiating mutually beneficial solutions among many stakeholders, thoughtful consideration of interrelated agreements, superb project management skills, and a continuing appreciation of the big picture. Brent also has a soft spot for ground-up development work and major renovation projects. He received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law (2010) and his B.A. with honors from Tufts University (2003).

Farella’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Farella’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have included adding a full-time executive focused on professional development and diversity, women’s leadership programming, a long-running “pipeline program” that exposes diverse high school students to careers in law, a scholarship program for diverse first-year law students, and an innovative Talent Initiative that pairs high-potential women and diverse associates with senior partner sponsors with the goal of increasing diversity in the partnership.

“Our new partnership class is to be celebrated as both a cross-section of the firm’s outstanding legal talent and rising leadership, and as evidence of Farella’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion. Several members of this class are alumni of the firm’s Talent Initiative, a sponsorship program in collaboration with clients, leadership, and legal skills development,” noted Sarah Good, Partner and Director of Professional Development, Diversity + Inclusion at Farella. “We’re confident that our intentional efforts will continue to deliver the benefit of diverse perspectives, deep industry immersion, and superior legal talent to our clients.”

About Farella

Farella Braun + Martel is a leading Northern California law firm representing corporate and private clients in sophisticated business transactions and complex commercial, civil and criminal litigation. Clients seek our imaginative legal solutions and the dynamism and intellectual creativity of our lawyers. We are headquartered in San Francisco and maintain offices in the Napa Valley that are focused on the wine industry.

Contact:
Cheryl Loof
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
[email protected] / 415.954.4433